Abstract
According to Albert Schweitzer, Jesus of Nazareth adopted the belief of Second Temple Judaism in an earthly resurrection and in a kingdom of God on earth. Thus, Schweitzer was convinced that Jesus went to his death in vain for the coming of these eschatological events. However, he could not make sense of Jesus eschatology. The main objective of this contribution is to explain the supposed eschatological belief of the synoptic Jesus as an understandable misinterpretation of otherworld experiences. This error would not have militated against Jesus being an inspirational model of humanity.
Mystical experiences can have a strong effect on people's lives and thoughts. A paradigmatic example is the Damascus road experience of Paul (Acts 9:1–22). In recent times the effect of mystical experiences has notably been studied with near-death experiences (Greyson; Noyes et al.; van Lommel). As yet religious studies and theology have paid little attention to these investigations, although many important religious figures obviously had intense mystical experiences. Therefore it is likely that we will better understand their teachings in light of these experiences. This was already pointed out by William James more than one hundred years ago (see James: 30–31, 433, 456; for a recent theological attempt to explain religious doctrine in terms of mystical experiences see Allison 2005: 269–99).
The Enigmatic Belief in an Earthly Resurrection and in an Earthly Kingdom of God
As a matter of fact, religious concepts are often enigmatic. This applies most notably to the doctrine of an earthly resurrection and a kingdom of God on earth. It is found in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and, with limitations, in Islam. According to this concept, the resurrected will have their physical bodies restored and will lead an eternal, peaceful life on earth under the rule of God, without illness and ageing, disasters and hardships, in beautiful natural environments from which violence and decay will likewise have disappeared.
This idea outright contradicts our knowledge of the physical world. Ageing and death are essential features of biological life. All animals including man live on the destruction of other organisms, many of them of other animals. Lions cannot feed on savanna grass. Disasters like floods, droughts, storms, conflagrations, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and celestial impact events are in the nature of the earth and of the cosmos. Again and again, they will inevitably bring about death and destruction to the creatures of the earth. Life on earth will not last forever, because in the distant but certain future the sun will evolve into a red giant and extinguish all forms of life on earth (Ward & Brownlee).
According to Schweitzer, Jesus Shared This Eschatological Belief
Albert Schweitzer maintained that Jesus of Nazareth shared the belief in an earthly resurrection and in a kingdom of God on earth, and even made it the heart of his message. Jesus expected the “great, universal” resurrection of the dead (Schweitzer 1901: 73–74) and the subsequent establishment of the kingdom of God on earth (see Schweitzer 1995: 116–17). This reading is somewhat obscured by the fact that Schweitzer sometimes calls the kingdom of God überirdisch (unearthly, literally: “super-earthly”; see, e.g., Schweitzer 1984: 407). However, überirdisch does not denote a place, but the new mode of being (Seinsweise) of life on earth in the kingdom of God (see Schweitzer 1995: 330). Moreover, Jesus believed (according to Schweitzer) that the “faithful [could] exert pressure on the coming of the kingdom” (Schweitzer 1995: 143 with reference to Matthew 11:12; see also 358) in particular by the Lord's prayer, an entirely “this-worldly” prayer in which the coming of the kingdom of God on earth is sought (see Schweitzer 1995: 354, 358, see also 138–39). Jesus was even convinced that by his suffering he could vicariously take upon himself the “pre-Messianic” tribulation predicted in Daniel and 1 Enoch, and thereby bring about the kingdom of God. Hence Jesus did not evade the danger he would face in Jerusalem, but deliberately went into suffering and death, Schweitzer says (see Schweitzer 1995: 141–49; 1984: 440–45; 1901: 89; see also Luz).
Theological Opposition to Admitting Error on Jesus' Part
So as not to attribute a fundamental error to the founder of their religion, modern theologians have resisted Schweitzer's view of the apocalyptic Jesus. The comment of Eberhard Jüngel on the sending of the disciples to the towns of Israel in the Gospel of Matthew is symptomatic. Jesus prophesied to them: “[Y]ou will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes” (Matt 10:23). Jüngel wrote that the verse is “suspicious for the fact alone” that it is “the locus classicus for the Naherwartung [the expectation of the imminent coming of the kingdom of God, see, e.g., Gräßer] of Jesus”: “If you assume the saying to be true, you have to conclude with Albert Schweitzer that Jesus erred” (Jüngel: 237–38, transl. mine). The Catholic Encyclopedia Sacramentum Mundi, edited by Karl Rahner, claimed that the consequences of Schweitzer's “eschatologism are not acceptable,” as it “radically questions” “the lasting validity” of the message of Jesus and necessarily leads “to the assumption” that it is “based on a delusion” (Feuillet: 1194–95, transl. mine). Schweitzer considered such lines of reasoning dishonest: “Any attempt to avoid conceding that Jesus' idea of the coming of the kingdom remained unrealized, and that this idea is one with which we can no longer identify, would only be a betrayal of truthfulness” (Schweitzer 1995: 433, transl. mine).
The Strangeness and Scandalousness of Jesus' Eschatology
Schweitzer, however, could not make sense of Jesus' eschatology. He emphasized the “scandalousness” of Jesus' teachings of the kingdom of God. They would “always retain something strange and enigmatic” (Schweitzer 1984: 628, 620, transl. mine).
Was Jesus Insane? Schweitzer's Explanatory Gap
Schweitzer took the objection that the eschatology of Jesus looked like a “delusional system” so seriously that he devoted his medical doctorate thesis to the psychiatric study of Jesus (Schweitzer 1913: V, transl. mine; see also Schweitzer 1984: 381). Indeed, it is a problem for Schweitzer's reconstruction of Jesus' eschatology that he could not make plausible how a person who was as thoughtful and intelligent as Jesus was (according to the Gospels) could believe in an eternal life in an earthly kingdom of God with “deadly seriousness” (Buri: 70, transl. mine).
To close Schweitzer's explanatory gap, I want to show first that the religious descriptions of an earthly kingdom of God and its resurrected population resemble the descriptions of transcendental worlds and persons in accounts of otherworld journeys.
Otherworld Journeys
By otherworld journeys, I understand mystical experiences in the course of which a person has the impression of being in a world beyond our universe and is convinced that her experience is real. It does not matter for my argument whether the otherworld is real or not. It only matters whether the otherworld travelers consider their surroundings to be real, not only during but also after the experience. There cannot be a scientific proof of the existence of a beyond, just as there cannot be such a proof of this world. Otherworld journeys are a universal feature of near-death experiences, but they are also experienced by persons not close to death, although often with lesser clarity.
Near-death Experiences
Near-death experiences (see Fenwick & Fenwick; Holden et al.; Moody & Perry; van Lommel; Sabom 1982) in the stricter sense are experienced during a coma on the brink of death, e.g., at the time of cardiac arrest. I think it makes sense to restrict the term “near-death experiences”—as is suggested by the word—to experiences in a condition really close to death; otherwise you will include a very diverse set of experiences. Near-death experiences are frequently accompanied by enhanced mentation, an increased capacity of thinking and perceiving (see Kelly, Greyson, & Kelly: 384, 386–87). Hence the memories of near-death experiences are more intense and detailed than memories of normal earthly events, not to speak of memories of imagined events (see Thonnard et al.). Near-death experiences are often called “more real than real.” Even after many years the individuals' belief in the reality of their experience does not change.
Paradisiacal, Earthlike Landscapes
During otherworld journeys in the context of near-death experiences many individuals find themselves in heavenly landscapes that appear paradisiacal but strongly resemble earthly landscapes. Neurosurgeon Eben Alexander describes this feature in his account of his near-death experience in 2008:
[I] found myself in a completely new world. The strangest, most beautiful world I'd ever seen. Brilliant, vibrant, ecstatic, stunning.… Below me there was a countryside. It was green, lush, and earthlike. It was earth … but at the same time it wasn't.… I was flying, passing over trees and fields, streams and waterfalls, and here and there, people. There were children, too, laughing and playing.… A beautiful, incredible dream world … except it wasn't a dream. Though I didn't know where I was.… I was absolutely sure of one thing: this place I'd suddenly found myself in was completely real. The word real expresses something abstract, and it's frustratingly ineffective at conveying what I'm trying to describe [Alexander: 38–39; see also the report of an otherworld-experience of a four-year-old girl in earth-like surroundings in Gibson: 52–55].
The report Dr. A. S. Wiltse from Kansas gave of his near-death experience in 1889 is even more specific on the similarities between otherworld and earthly landscapes:
Underneath me lay a forest-clad valley, through which ran a beautiful river full of shoals, which caused the water to ripple in white sprays. I thought the river looked much like the Emerald River, and the mountains, I thought, as strongly resembled Waldron's Ridge. On the left of the road was a high bluff of black stone and it reminded me of Lookout Mountain, where the railroad passes between it and the Tennessee River [Wiltse: 359].
William Buhlman, who by his own account voluntarily undertakes otherworld journeys on a regular basis without being close to death, writes that the “first nonphysical dimension … is so physical in appearance that most people believe they are observing the physical world” (Buhlman: 93).
Shining Otherworld Persons
In near-death experiences, heavenly persons are experienced even more frequently than heavenly landscapes. They appear corporeal but often emit a more or less bright light. Furthermore, there are neither old nor sick transcendental people. A woman describes her deceased relatives she met in 1991 at the age of 35 during a near-death experience:
They were all covered with light, they were light, and had light permeating all around them … Everyone I saw … fit perfectly into my understanding of what that person looked like at their best during their lives [Sabom 1998: 44].
The light emanating from transcendental persons can be overwhelming. Howard Storm, who had been an atheist before his near-death experience in 1985, saw a light that approached him from afar, “more intense and more beautiful” than anything he had seen before:
Soon the light was upon me I knew that … it wasn't just light. This was a living being, a luminous being approximately eight feet tall and surrounded by an oval of radiance. The brilliant intensity of the light penetrated my body.… Tangible hands and arms gently embraced me and lifted me up [Storm: 25].
The luminescence of the heavenly bodies is not restricted to human or superhuman beings, as revealed by a 13-year-old girl's account of her near-death experience:
At the end of the tunnel was a bright light. From the light came two dogs of mine [who had died some years ago]. The dogs came running and jumped on me and kissed my face with their tongues. Their tongues weren't wet, and I felt no weight when they jumped on me. The dogs seemed to glow from a light that was inside them.… I then called my dogs and together we started walking toward the light.… [T]here were people as far as the eye could see, and they were glowing with an inner light—just like my dogs. In the distance I could see fields, hills, and a sky [Atwater: 73].
Deceased children are perceived as grown-up and as being in the prime of their life. Vicki Noratuk, who was blind from birth, experienced an otherworld journey in 1973 at the age of 22 after a serious car accident. She reported she saw her lifeless body in hospital while two medics were working on it. Then she went through a dark tunnel to a “balmy, bright summerland scene” (Noratuk). There were trees and birds and many people, “but they were, like, made out of light” (van Lommel: 24). She felt herself being in a nonphysical body that seemed to be made of light, too (Ring & Cooper: 110).
Vicki then became aware of … Debby and Diane … Vicki's blind schoolmates, who had died years before, at ages 11 and 6, respectively. In life, they had both been profoundly retarded as well as blind, but here they appeared bright and beautiful, healthy and vitally alive, and no longer children, but, as Vicki phrased it, “in their prime” [Ring & Cooper: 111].
Resurrection and Kingdom of God in Zoroastrianism
It appears that the belief in an earthly resurrection and an earthly kingdom of God first emerged in Zoroastrianism (see Boyce 1987; Boyce & Grenet: 361–490; Boyce 2001: 1, 29, 76–77; 150–52; Silverman) and subsequently inspired Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
In the Gathas—seventeen hymns that probably originate from the second millennium
In Younger Avestan texts the Zoroastrian eschatology is expressed quite clearly. In the Zamyād Yašt, which Almut Hintze dates to the 6th century
In the Middle Persian writings of Zoroastrianism further details can be found. The resurrected will live forever in their prime, “without ageing and weakness” (Ayādgār ī Jā-māspīg [Pers.] 6; transl. Raei: 193; re-transl. mine) together with Ahura Mazdā and all heavenly beings on earth (see Pahlawī Riwāyat 48:99 in Raei: 183). Livestock and plants will be restored as well. It will be like an eternal spring, like a garden with all plants and flowers (see Pahlawī Riwāyat 48:103, 107 in Raei: 184), and the whole “world will become immortal for all eternity” (Bundahišn 34:32; transl. Raei: 193; re-transl. mine).
The body of the resurrected will be like “luminous clay,” “their bones will be like crystal in the light,” and they will wear “shining garments.” Their light will “resemble the sun, the moon and the biggest or the smallest stars;” the light that had been given to the sun will then shine from the resurrected people (Wizīdagīha ī Zādspram 35:50, 51, 60, 56, 59; transl. Raei: 222, 222, 225, 224, 225; re-transl. mine): they will become “as pure, bright and lucid as the sun” (Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg [Pāz.] 6; transl. Raei: 193; re-transl. mine).
Resurrection and Kingdom of God in Daniel and 1 Enoch
In the Old Testament, the doctrine of an individual resurrection probably appears first in the Book of Daniel, which was most likely completed just before 164 B.C. In Daniel 12:2–3 it is predicted:
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
In this passage we re-encounter the motif of the brightness of the resurrected. Resurrection and eternal life after the judgment will take place on earth. In Daniel 2:34–35 it is said parabolically that the kingdom of God will shatter the fourth and last of the evil kingdoms and then cover the whole earth. According to Daniel 7:27 it will be under the heavens, not in the heavens. It will stand forever, indestructible and eternal (see Dan 2:44; 7:14, 18, 27).
In the influential First Book of Enoch which in turn consists of different books, similar things are prophesied, notably in the Book of Parables, which is mostly dated to the turn of the eras (see, e.g., Suter: 443; Charlesworth: 464): “[T]he earth will give back what has been entrusted to it;” “I [i.e. God] shall transform the earth and make it a blessing. And my chosen ones shall I make dwell on it;” “the days of their life will have no end;” “with that Son of Man they [i.e. the righteous] will eat, and they will lie down and rise up forever and ever” (1 En. 51:1; 45:5; 58:3; 62:14; transl. Nickelsburg & VanderKam: 65, 59, 72, 81).
The light, which is emphasized ever so often in reports of otherworld experiences, is mentioned several times in this text. It is said that there will be a light on the transformed earth that will never cease. The light of the Lord of Spirits will appear on the face of the righteous, and they will wear a garment of glory that will never wear out (see 1 En. 58:6; 38:4; 62:15–16). According to the Epistle of Enoch, which is dated to the second century
In Rabbinic Judaism, after the destruction of the second temple, bodily resurrection and eternal life on earth was a central tenet (see y. Sanh. 10:1; b. Sanh. 11:1–2; Neusner: 109; Greenberg, Boyarin, & Siegel: 241). Even today, the Encyclopaedia Judaica defines resurrection to the effect that “the dead will be revived in their bodies and live again on earth” (Greenberg, Boyarin, & Siegel: 240).
Did the Jesus of the Synoptics Believe in an Earthly Resurrection and a Kingdom of God on Earth?
Albert Schweitzer situates Jesus of Nazareth in the tradition of Daniel and notably of Enoch. Jesus did not have a spiritualized conception of the kingdom of God, Schweitzer argues. Admittedly Jesus did not formulate a comprehensive doctrine of the kingdom of God. But if one takes “the words scattered in the texts [i.e. the Gospels] … as they are, lets them mean what they say, and puts them together [hält sie zusammen], then the opinion that Jesus thought differently of the kingdom … than Second Temple Judaism is not sustainable” (Schweitzer 1995: 114–115, transl. mine).
Here Schweitzer suggests a holistic approach, which to me appears to be the only adequate one. At any rate, apodictic solutions based on absolutizing single verses are suspect. Different interpretations differ only by degree in their capacity to integrate the extant sources on Jesus of Nazareth. Albert Schweitzer assumed that the Synoptic Gospels provided a more reliable access to the historical Jesus and were “quite irreconcilable” (Schweitzer 1995: 94, transl. mine) with the Gospel of John. I want to leave aside the most difficult question of the historical Jesus and confine myself to the picture of Jesus painted by the Synoptics. In the rest of my text, unless otherwise indicated, “Jesus” means the synoptic Jesus—Jesus as portrayed in the Synoptic Gospels. The majority of the pertinent passages seem to suggest that Jesus believed in an earthly resurrection and in a kingdom of God on earth. Of course, I cannot offer comprehensive proof of this, but I can give a few examples (for more corroborating evidence see Allison 1998: 95–171; 2010: 31–220). Jesus intended to walk ahead of his disciples to Galilee after his resurrection. Schweitzer points out that the Gospels use the same verb (πρoάγω) as in the case of his walking ahead of his disciples on their way up to Jerusalem before his death (see Schweitzer 1995: 151–52 and 1984: 440–41 n26 with reference to Mark 10:32 and 14:28; see also Matt 2:9; 14:22; 21:9, 31; Mark 6:45; 11:9; Luke 18:39). This indicates that Jesus expected an earthly, physical mode of being after his resurrection. Evidence for an earthly localization of the kingdom of God in the eschatology of Jesus is, among other instances, provided by his intention to drink wine with his disciples in the kingdom of God (see Matt 26:29; Mark 14:25; see also Luke 22:18, 30), by his prophecy that in the kingdom of God many will come from east and west (to Mount Zion, see Allison 2010: 43 n46) and recline at the table with the patriarchs (see Schweitzer 1995: 116 with reference to Matt 8:11; see also Luke 13:28–29), and by his saying that the gentle will inherit τὴν γῆ, which means “land” or “earth,” but not “heaven” (Matt 5:5; see Laaksonen: 353–70). Unequivocally it is said by the Synoptics that the resurrected cannot die any more (see Luke 20:36) and will live forever (see Matt 19:16, 29; 25:46; Mark 10:17, 30; Luke 10:25; 18:18, 30; see also Matt 6:13; Luke 1:33).
The continuity of the physical body in the sayings of Jesus and elsewhere in the Gospels is indicated by the fact that the process of resurrection is mainly expressed by the verb ἐγεὶρω (I wake up, raise). This verb is also used in the Gospels for arousing somebody from normal sleep (see, e.g., Matt 8:25; Mark 4:38; Luke 8:24; see also Mark 1:31 and Matt 8:15) and for Jesus bringing dead people back to life (see Matt 9:25; 11:5; Mark 5:41; 9:27; Luke 7:22; 8:54; John 12:1, 9, 17), in which case the persons concerned unquestionably returned to a physical-earthly life with their previous bodies. The other verb used for the process of resurrection, ἀνίστημι (I raise, rise), also points to an ongoing existence of the same physical body. In the Gospels, it is used, not only for rising from the dead, but even more often for getting up from sleep or for setting off on a journey (see Matt 9:9; 26:62; Mark 1:35; 2:14; 5:42; 7:24; 9:27; 10:1; 14:60; Luke 1:39; 4:16; 5:25, 28; 6:8; 8:55; 11:7–8; 15:18, 20; 17:19; 22:45–46; 23:1; 24:12, 33; John 11:31). Without any doubt, the concept of an earthly resurrection is manifest in the Gospels' narratives of the empty tomb (see Matt 28:1–15; Mark 16:1–8; Luke 24:1–12; John 20:1–18). It is the physical body of Jesus which rises; otherwise the tomb would not be empty.
In the few statements of Jesus on life in the kingdom of God the light of the risen is also mentioned. In what appears to be a reinforcement of Daniel 12:3, where the light of the risen is compared to the stars, Matthew 13:43 reads: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The belief in a bodily resurrection was of great importance for Christianity up until the Middle Ages (see Bynum). Subsequent to resurrection, an eternal life on earth is promised in the Book of Revelation, where the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven onto the renewed earth (see Rev 3:12; 21:1–22:5). Later on, Christian writers mostly assume a transfer of the risen to celestial spheres, but the concept of an eternal earthly life is still supported by certain Christian denominations, e.g. by Jehovah's Witnesses.
Bodily Resurrection and Earthly Paradise and Hell in Islam
It is beyond doubt that the Qur'an teaches a physical, bodily resurrection. However, the localization of paradise and hell in relation to the former earth remains unclear. Although the earth will be changed (Qur'an 14:48), it appears that the resurrected will walk to their destinations: “The believers shall be herded to paradise in groups” (Qur'an 39:73, transl. Khalidi: 373; see also 3:185; 47:6; 4:57; 4:122; 5:12, 65), “[t]he Unbelievers shall be herded to hell in groups” (Qur'an 39:71, transl. Khalidi: 373) on a road (Qur'an 37:23). Paradise and hell are at close range; their inhabitants “can see and call to each other” (Gwynne), see, e.g., Qur'an 7:44–51. The relocation of paradise to the seventh heaven or beyond took place only in later islamic literature (see Gardet).
I propose the hypothesis that the idea of an earthly resurrection and an eternal, earthly kingdom of God is based on an understandable misinterpretation of otherworld experiences. Otherworld conditions become the image of earthly perfection and are projected to the future of the earth. In doing so, the other-worldliness of the experience is not recognized. This is quite understandable because of the similarity of otherworld landscapes to earth, and the familiar yet oftentimes radiant bodies of otherworld people. However, precisely the light of the risen is a clue that otherworld experiences are involved. On earth there are no shining persons, whereas they frequently occur in otherworld experiences.
The confusion between the earthly and the otherworldly sphere was facilitated by the fact that heaven and the underworld were conceived as intramundane in the ancient world. If one only walked, sailed or flew long enough and was not held up by a guard, one would finally arrive in heaven or in the underworld (see, e.g., Odyssey XI.6–22). Gods and spirits could rise from the underworld to the surface of the earth (see, e.g., the Epic of Gilgamesh XII.78–86 [Gardner & Maier: 263]; 1 Sam 28:13), or descend from heaven to earth and intervene and abide there.
In addition, there is the fundamental problem of understanding mystical experiences theoretically. This also applies to near-death experiences. Some people report that they remember experiencing an all-encompassing knowledge, but say that they lost it upon returning to the physical world or at least cannot express it in human words (see, e.g., Moody 1977: 9–14; van Lommel: 34–35). Personal experiences like traveling through paradisiacal landscapes or meeting heavenly persons were, however, remembered exceptionally clearly and intensely (see above).
Otherworld Experiences Move People to Believe in an Imminent Kingdom of God on Earth: The Ghost Dance Movement of the Lakota
Is it possible to demonstrate a connection between other-world experiences and expectations of a kingdom of God on earth by looking at representatives of a civilization that had not yet adopted modern cosmology? Are persons brought to believe in an earthly kingdom of God by their otherworld experiences? This can be shown, not for the origin of this belief which lies in the fog of prehistory, but for its adoption by later movements, namely for the well-documented Ghost Dance movement of the Lakota, a branch of the Sioux people.
Tidings of an imminent kingdom of God came to the Lakota in 1889. It was proclaimed by the Paiute prophet Wovoka who apparently was influenced by Christian ideas. In the realm he foretold, all the Indians, the living and the dead, would live upon a paradisiacal, renewed earth with all the buffalos. The Lakota did not simply believe his message, but sent delegates to Wovoka, who lived 1400 miles away in Nevada, to obtain more information about the prophet and his message (see Andersson: 31–40). Most of all, it was other-world journeys that convinced them. Wovoka taught the Lakota a trance-inducing dance which was called Ghost Dance by the white people. It was supposed to hasten the coming of the new world. During this dance, many participants fell to the ground as if dead. While in this deep trance-state, some experienced otherworld journeys, met deceased relatives and friends in the otherworld, and talked to them.
The Lakota Little Wound describes his vision: “The broad and fertile lands stretched in every direction, and were most pleasing to my eyes.” A godlike figure called his deceased friends “to come up where I was. They appeared, riding the finest horses I ever saw, dressed in superb and most brilliant garments, and seeming very happy. As they approached, I recognized the playmates of my childhood, and I ran forward to embrace them while the tears of joy ran down my cheeks.… Then we … looked into a great valley where there were thousands of buffalo, deer, and elk feeding” [Andersson: 63].
The landscapes, the otherworld individuals, and the strong impression of reality resemble otherworld journeys during near-death experiences. The description of the “most brilliant garments” of the deceased Indians clearly shows that Little Wound also experienced the light of otherworld people.
We could leave it at that and conclude that the eschatology of synoptic Jesus had its origin in a misinterpretation of otherworld experiences. The question remains why Jesus of all his contemporaries who were familiar with Second Temple eschatology had such a deep, strong belief in resurrection and in the kingdom of God. According to the Gospels, Jesus did not blindly adopt teachings that were handed down to him. Therefore it seems plausible that he, like the Lakota, was moved to this belief by own experiences. The Gospels do not say much about Jesus' mystical experiences. Narratives about him seeking solitude and silence to pray (see, e.g., Matt 14:23; Mark 1:35; 6:46; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:28) indicate that he led the life of a mystic. The mystical experiences of Jesus described in the Bible comprise his baptismal vision (see Matt 3:16–17; Mark 1:10–11), in which he sees the heavens torn open, the unspecified vision of the fall of Satan (see Luke 10:18), and the transfiguration experience (see Matt 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36). In the latter, Jesus encounters two otherworld persons in their brightness (δóξα) (see Luke 9:31). The phenomenology of the experience and the trancelike sleep of his companions clearly point to an event experienced during an altered state of consciousness in a transcendental realm that is not perceptible by the physical senses (see Schamoni: 236; Pilch; Lang: 243).
The error of the synoptic Jesus has no effect on his being a model of humanity
The Gospels do not say whether Jesus not only experienced radiant transcendental persons but also paradisiacal landscapes. Yet, because of passages like John 6:46 (“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father”), Bernhard Lang deems otherworld journeys to be the key to understanding the historical Jesus (see Lang: 241–43). An indication of Jesus' out-of-body travels, although within the earthly sphere, is the story of his walking on the Sea of Galilee (see Matt 14:25; Mark 6:48; John 6:19). This episode phenomenologically resembles reports of out-of-body travels in which the people concerned are perceived in their out-of-body condition by third parties. See, e.g., the Wilmot-case, in which a woman “went” in an out-of-body condition across the stormy Atlantic Ocean at night, visited her husband on his ship, and was descried quite distinctly both by her husband and his fellow passenger (Myers: 682–84). Moreover, according to the Gospels, Jesus was a pre-eminent healer, which is why people came to him in droves (see, e.g., Matt 4:23–25; 14:35–36; 15:30; 19:2; Mark 1:32–34, 45; 3:7–10; 5:24; 6:55–56; Luke 5:15; 6:19). Today's healers are known to have a variety of mystical experiences like perceptions of otherworld people or out-of-body experiences.
In addition, there are healings ascribed to Jesus that one would today call cases of reanimation of seemingly or even clinically dead people (see Matt 9:18–19, 23–26; Mark 5:22–23, 35–43; Luke 7:12–15; 8:41–42, 49–56; John 11:1–45). These incidents, which are not necessarily accompanied by mystical experiences, may have nourished his belief in an earthly resurrection, even if the people were not raised by him to lead an eternal life with a radiant body, but simply returned to their previous life. In Matthew 11:4–5 and Luke 7:22, Jesus apparently refers to some of his healings as a resurrection of deceased persons.
Black Elk and Jesus
The parallel between the Lakota and the synoptic Jesus might become even clearer if we look at the probably most enthusiastic Ghost Dancer of the Lakota (DeMallie: 266), the young medicine man Black Elk (ca. 1865–1870), a holy man of the Lakota (see Steltenkamp: 45). Michael Steltenkamp, Professor of Religious Studies at Wheeling Jesuit University, refers to him as a “religious giant” (Steltenkamp: 233). Black Elk was a healer, a mystical visionary, nature miracles are ascribed to him, and he was an exceptionally pious man (see Steltenkamp 23–32, 63–64 for visions; 48, 155–156 for healings; 156, 160 for extinguishing a bonfire and averting a storm; 188, 196 for out-of-body journeys; 197–202 for foretelling the future; 195, 233 for piety).
Initially, Black Elk apparently did not think highly of the new movement. This can be gathered from his behavior as described in The Sixth Grandfather (see DeMallie: 256–58) and is explicitly stated in Black Elk Speaks: “[W]hen I first heard of it, I thought it was only foolish talk that somebody had started somewhere.… I did not yet believe. I thought it was only the despair that made people believe, just as a man who is starving may dream of plenty of everything good to eat” (Neihardt: 186–87).
However, because of the similarity of the message of Wovoka to his own vision of the rebirth of his people, the matter was always on his mind, and he eventually joined the ghost dancers (see DeMallie: 257–58). His own otherworld experiences during the dance-induced trance seemed to have convinced him. He saw beautiful green pastures full of buffalos (see DeMallie: 261, 263–64), and his description of the deceased Indians in the Beyond resembles reports of near-death experiences: “The men that I saw were all beautiful and it seemed there were no old men in there. They were all young. There were no children either, all were about the same age” (DeMallie: 263–64).
He declared that he had seen the Promised Land: “I told the Brulés what I had seen in my vision of the Promised Land.” (DeMallie: 266, see also 268), and felt confident that this land was within reach and would come to them soon. Like the mission of Jesus, the eschatological movement of the Lakota led to disaster, namely the massacre of the Lakota by the U.S. Army at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890.
The Error of the Synoptic Jesus in a New Light
According to my hypothesis the error of the synoptic Jesus does not primarily consist in expecting the coming of the kingdom too early. His error is not mainly about the time of arrival of the kingdom of God (for the supposed Naherwartung of Jesus see, e.g., Matt 10:23; 16:28; 24:34; Mark 9:1; 13:30; Luke 9:27; 21:32), but about its localization. It consists in projecting elements of otherworld experiences (above all, shining deceased people in their prime and paradisiacal landscapes) onto the future of the earth. It led him to expect things that will never happen on earth because of their otherworldly nature. Considering the similarities between reports of otherworld experiences and the eschatological concept that was passed down to Jesus, and considering the background of the cosmological models of the time, this error does not indicate mental illness. It can be understood easily, even in the case of a quite intelligent man. This would be especially true for Jesus if one assumes that he had otherworld experiences (like encounters with radiant transcendental persons), which he could interpret as a confirmation of the eschatology handed down to him. Hence the explanatory gap of Schweitzer would be closed and an important objection against Schweitzer's reconstruction of the eschatology of the synoptic Jesus would be refuted.
The Error of the Synoptic Jesus Has No Effect on His Being a Model of Humanity
What would it mean for the Christian practice of following the example of Jesus (the ‘imitation of Christ’) if one embraces an error of Jesus as expounded in this paper?
No re-interpretation of the kingdom of God into an ethical entity. Schweitzer apparently tried to transform Jesus' objective-cosmological notion of the kingdom of God into an ethical concept (see, e.g., Schweitzer 1995: 347, 349–50, 446–50). I think that this would lead us too far away from the intention of Jesus. As Schweitzer himself wrote, following the ethics of Jesus is (in the view of Jesus) a precondition for entering the kingdom of God (see Schweitzer 1995: 181, 335; see also 117, 416n, 429). But ethics does not make up the kingdom's essence. The kingdom of God, as Jesus conceived it, does not consist in norms or values, but in a land in a condition of peace and justice, without mourning and famine (see Matt 5:4, 6, 9 and Luke 6:21). Jesus sought, albeit in an uncommon way, a better life on earth. Even nowadays this can be regarded as a meaningful goal.
Jesus' will to act and his way of acting as an example. Two impressive features show up in Jesus' attempt to change the world. First, his will to act. Jesus pursued his goal at the risk of his life, which is why Schweitzer emphasizes “the heroic” of Jesus (Schweitzer 1901: 109, transl. mine). The will to act is essential for doing good. Knowing ethical teachings does not suffice. An empirical study recently found out that professional ethicists do not display a better behavior than professors from other fields (see Rust & Schwitzgebel). The will to act must be added to the knowledge of what is good but is often missing. Kierkegaard put this pointedly: “[W]e all know which way we ought to go … but nobody is willing to move” (Pole & Stangerup: 232).
Secondly, Jesus' way of acting is remarkable. He tried to bring about the happiness of others by easing their sufferings and bearing their burden through his extensive healing activity (healing is explicitly linked with bearing the burden of others in Matt 8:16–17) and—according to Schweitzer— through his attempt to promote the coming of the kingdom of God by vicarious suffering. His example inspired a culture of active compassion and selfless deeds, represented by names like Francis of Assisi, Maximilian Kolbe, Mother Teresa, and Albert Schweitzer. Leading utopians of modern times often chose to place a heavy burden on others for their vision of a better world and did not recoil from sacrificing millions and millions but not themselves. The way of Jesus has not become obsolete.
Errors and failures are an integral part of human action and do not devalue the way of Jesus. According to my hypothesis, the error of the synoptic Jesus led to a metaphysical tragedy, but it does not devalue his way of healing the suffering and bearing the burden of others. Nowadays we base our actions rather on scientific and technical knowledge than on mystical insights. But disastrous mistakes are still daily fare. Water well drilling contributed to the desertification of semiarid areas like the Sahel (see Blümel: 59; Heineberg: 146); biofuel production, intended to slow down global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, resulted in deforestation, land grabbing, hunger, and apparently even higher overall greenhouse gas emissions (see Biesalski: 131–92; oxfam).
Schweitzer's mystic of action and the future of Christianity. In our efforts to alleviate suffering in the world and to increase the well being of others, we act—as I understand Schweitzer —in conformity with the will of Jesus (see Schweitzer 1984: 629–30). Thereby we enter into a mystical communion with him that can inspire us and can strengthen our will to act. Such a mystical, action-related communion with Jesus of Nazareth and like-minded spirits does not depend on “the historicity of this or that part of the bible” (Allison 2010: 462), and I feel it will lie at the heart of an enlightened Christianity of the future.